BrentWin
10-13-2009, 09:35 AM
About a month ago, I posted a pic of a lightweight rifle that I had built. A couple guys commented that they liked the camo and would like to see how I did it.
I have noticed that many camo patterns look nearly black at a distance. I was standing in line at a quick shop, one morning, behind a National Guard soldier and started looking at the Acupat camo that he was wearing. I realized that this would be a good all purpose pattern that wouldn't look black at a distance.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/brentwin/COLOURlovers_com-ACUPAT.png
I found Acupat kits that come with the paint and stencils, but they required a paint gun and compressor, which I didn't have. I then thought about cutting my own stencils with an exacto knife, but that seemed like a real pain.
I was looking around the various gun websights and found a post where a guy who was using sponges to camo his rifle. The light bulb turned on and off to the hobby store I went.
I came back with Krylon camouflage green and tan and Rustolium American Accents in fossil and sage. I also picked up a package of natural sea sponges. Pick the roughest most irregular surfaced sponges you can find. They work much better at giving the pattern depth.
I sanded the seams of the stock with 120 grit sand paper and then sanded the entire stock with 220 grit to give the paint something the hold on to. I took an old tooth brush and scrubbed the checkering out with rubbing alcohol and then rubbed the whole stock down with the alcohol. I should mention that you should wear rubber gloves for the cleaning and painting to prevent finger prints that might keep the paint from sticking.
The first step in painting is to spray the entire stock with the camo tan and then paint a few stripes on the stock with camo green.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/brentwin/2ndlayer.jpg
I let the stock dry over night and then start the sponging. I use paper plates to spray a puddle of each color to dab the sponges in.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/brentwin/camo001.jpg
Start with the camo green and and blot the sponge into the puddle. For this layer you will want quite a bit of paint in the sponge. Start tapping the sponge on the stock. Leave plenty of space between taps. The following layers will fill in the gaps.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/brentwin/camo003.jpg
Repeat the process with the sage color and then the fossil. At this point you can step back and say "this really looks like crap!" That's OK, were going to make it look better.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/brentwin/DSCF0005.jpg
Start again with your camo green, except this time we are going to dip the sponge and then blot some of the paint out so it makes a lighter more open pattern. Repeat with the other colors and you should end up with something like this.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/brentwin/camo006-1.jpg
After you have what you want, let it dry over night and then hit it with 3-4 coats of Krylon Matte Clear. If you can let it sit for a week, the finish will be pretty tough and scratch resistant.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/brentwin/001.jpg
I have noticed that many camo patterns look nearly black at a distance. I was standing in line at a quick shop, one morning, behind a National Guard soldier and started looking at the Acupat camo that he was wearing. I realized that this would be a good all purpose pattern that wouldn't look black at a distance.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/brentwin/COLOURlovers_com-ACUPAT.png
I found Acupat kits that come with the paint and stencils, but they required a paint gun and compressor, which I didn't have. I then thought about cutting my own stencils with an exacto knife, but that seemed like a real pain.
I was looking around the various gun websights and found a post where a guy who was using sponges to camo his rifle. The light bulb turned on and off to the hobby store I went.
I came back with Krylon camouflage green and tan and Rustolium American Accents in fossil and sage. I also picked up a package of natural sea sponges. Pick the roughest most irregular surfaced sponges you can find. They work much better at giving the pattern depth.
I sanded the seams of the stock with 120 grit sand paper and then sanded the entire stock with 220 grit to give the paint something the hold on to. I took an old tooth brush and scrubbed the checkering out with rubbing alcohol and then rubbed the whole stock down with the alcohol. I should mention that you should wear rubber gloves for the cleaning and painting to prevent finger prints that might keep the paint from sticking.
The first step in painting is to spray the entire stock with the camo tan and then paint a few stripes on the stock with camo green.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/brentwin/2ndlayer.jpg
I let the stock dry over night and then start the sponging. I use paper plates to spray a puddle of each color to dab the sponges in.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/brentwin/camo001.jpg
Start with the camo green and and blot the sponge into the puddle. For this layer you will want quite a bit of paint in the sponge. Start tapping the sponge on the stock. Leave plenty of space between taps. The following layers will fill in the gaps.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/brentwin/camo003.jpg
Repeat the process with the sage color and then the fossil. At this point you can step back and say "this really looks like crap!" That's OK, were going to make it look better.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/brentwin/DSCF0005.jpg
Start again with your camo green, except this time we are going to dip the sponge and then blot some of the paint out so it makes a lighter more open pattern. Repeat with the other colors and you should end up with something like this.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/brentwin/camo006-1.jpg
After you have what you want, let it dry over night and then hit it with 3-4 coats of Krylon Matte Clear. If you can let it sit for a week, the finish will be pretty tough and scratch resistant.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/brentwin/001.jpg